Royal & SunAlliance announced up to 1,200 job losses today with the transfer of customer service and back office roles to India over the next two years.

Staff at Royal & SunAlliance (R&SA) business More Th>n explained their working systems to Indian colleagues who travelled to Liverpool for six weeks in April.

R&SA had set up an "offshore pilot" in India in March this year dealing with motor claims, servicing and claims.

Insurance workers voiced their concerns that they could be consigning their jobs to the scrap heap by showing the Indian party the ropes.

The Indians worked alongside the 330 More Th>n staff at their Mercury Court offices in Liverpool. Senior managers then flew to India to train a further 90 workers.

One Liverpool worker hit out at bosses at the time, saying: "I am disgusted they want us to train people who are going to take our jobs."

He said the aim was for Indian staff to pick up the British way of dealing with customers on the phone: "We have a certain way of talking to people, a 'magic ingredient', and this is what they are after."

He said he had been told by his manager that his job was safe until 2006-07.

Insurance chiefs revealed today that the jobs in R&SA and More Th>n would be affected by the shake-up which they said will lead to savings of #10m a year.

UK chief executive Duncan Boyle said: "As far as possible the reduction in UK jobs will be managed through natural turnover and redeployment.

" We have kept our people informed at all stages and have fully consulted with our union partners.

"We work in a very competitive environment and processing some of our work in India will not only help us control costs but will also give us greater operational flexibility."

R&SA employs about 11,000 staff in the UK.

Financial workers' unions Amicus and Unifi said they hoped to learn exactly where the jobs axe would fall later this week.

But with Liverpool's 1,800 staff making up the company's biggest UK operation, it seems certain the city will bear the brunt.

One Liverpool worker said today: "Nothing stays the same and we have to be flexible and adaptable and live with the pressure."